It cost $100 million to build France’s new National Velodrome in Paris, which opened on Thursday. So it’s only fitting that a cyclist over 100 years old was the one to give the venue a truly grand opening.

Today, 102-year-old Robert Marchand earned a standing ovation for breaking his own world record in the over-100 category after riding 26.927 kilometers (16.7 miles) in one hour. That effort bettered the old mark he set two years ago by more than two and a half kilometers.

“It was very good, but at the end it started to become very hard,” Marchand said afterwards according to the Associated Press. “…You have to know there are people who came from 600 kilometers away to see me today! It is incredible. That’s all I can say.”

Marchand also owns the time record for people over the age of 100 riding 100 kilometers (62 miles). He earned that particular record in 2012 at a velodrome in Lyon, France, logging a time of four hours, 17 minutes, 27 seconds over a span of 300 laps.

Cycling has been a longtime hobby for Marchand, who first started when he was 14 years old. Throughout his life, he’s had a varied list of professional jobs including turns as a firefighter, show salesman and wine dealer. He came back to cycling in 1978, when he was 67 years old.

Just before he set the centenarian record for the fastest 100km by bike two years ago, Marchand explained how he kept himself in good shape.

“All my life, I used all but I never abused, I have never smoked nor drank except for festive occasions, and in women I did not indulge too much,” he said to AFP with a laugh prior to his record run in Lyon.

More: Figure Skating

Russian Yevgenia Medvedeva broke the record for highest women’s short program score at the Grand Prix Final on Friday.

Medvedeva, who hasn’t lost in more than one year, totaled 79.21 points in Marseille, France. That beat Mao Asada‘s 78.66 from the 2014 World Championships, the previous record under a decade-old judging system.

“I knew approximately about the record,” Medvedeva said through a translator. “For me, it’s one step further.”

Medvedeva leads Canadian Kaetlyn Osmond by 3.67 points going into Saturday’s free skate. No U.S. woman qualified for the six-skater Grand Prix Final for the first time since 2008.

She already holds the free skate world record and can break Yuna Kim‘s record for total score with a solid effort Saturday in Marseille. Medvedeva said she can perform better than she did Friday, specifically with her program interpretation and spins.

“I always strive for perfection,” she said through a translator. “When you stop doing that, you will stop progress.”

The Grand Prix Final concludes with the women’s and men’s free skates and free dance Saturday (schedule here). NBCSN will air coverage Sunday from 8:30-11 p.m. ET.

Earlier Friday, Russians Yevgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov held onto their short-program lead to win the pairs event by 7.14 points over China’s Yu Xiaoyu and Zhang Hao.

Canadians Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, the two-time world champions and pre-event favorites, struggled in the short program and free skate and lost for just the second time in the last three seasons.

In the short dance, Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir recorded the highest score of all time, an 80.50, to take a 2.53-point lead into Saturday’s free dance.

That Virtue and Moir lead is no surprise — they were the top couple in the fall Grand Prix season — but their closest challenger is a surprise.

It is not two-time world champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France, but instead Americans Maia and Alex Shibutani, who totaled a personal-best short dance.

More: Figure Skating

Gracie Gold struggled in all four of her competitions this fall, capped by her lowest total score in four years at a Croatian event this week, putting her under scrutiny for the U.S. Championships in six weeks.

She singled three jumps and fell twice across two programs at Golden Spin in Zagreb, Croatia, on Thursday and Friday.

Gold totaled 159.02 points for sixth place, her first time below 160 points since 2012 Skate Canada in her first season as a senior skater.

Italian Carolina Kostner, the 2014 Olympic bronze medalist, won with 196.23 points in her first full competition since the 2014 World Championships.

Earlier this fall, Gold finished last of six skaters in the free skate-only Japan Open on Oct. 1, fifth at Skate America in October and eighth at Trophée de France in November.

Gold has spoken openly about trying to mentally and physically recover from last season’s world championships, where she dropped from first after the short program to finish fourth, and taking weeks off from training in the summer offseason.

Even with the rough skates, Gold still ranks fourth among U.S. women in top scores this season, behind Ashley Wagner, Mariah Bell and Mirai Nagasu.

She could struggle — to a degree — at the U.S. Championships in January and still make the three-woman world championships team. Gold has finished first or second at all four of her senior nationals appearances.